Founded in 2002, the Society encourages the creation of watercolor at all skill levels and promotes interest, appreciation and enjoyment of watercolor and watermedia. Please feel free to attend one of our meetings. Monthly meetings are held on the first Wednesday of every month, at 10 a.m. at the Cincinnati Art Club, 1021 Parkside Place, Cincinnati, Ohio, unless otherwise noted.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Our program for November was on Portraits by Taylor Bush. Taylor has been painting for over 20 years and has made several DVD’s on Portrait painting and other subjects. These DVD can be found on Amazon.

She has over the years developed her own palette for Portrait painting, many of the paints are transparent stains. Taylor uses 300 lb. hot press paper for her portraits.

Her first step in painting portraits is photographing the subject. She makes sure that they sit by a window with only a single light source. Taylor has found that she likes her subject to have a somber pose that way their eyes remain very open. A smiling pose tends to make the eyes squint. After photographing the subject she puts the pictures on the computer so she can adjust the brightness and contrast of the picture. It makes it easier for her to see all the different shadows and angles of the face.

2 of Taylor's charming portraits.

Taylor showed us the different stages of the painting by having painted each different stage on a separatepaper.

Stage 1 - drawing the portrait. She uses strong lines for the important things that need to be seen through all the different layers of paints.

Stage 2- paints the important structure, shadows, the bones.

Stage 3 - paints the softer shadows, the muscles.

Stage 4 - the flesh washes. Taylor will do several layers of these washes giving each layer time to dry before applying the next layer.

She uses blue shadows around the eyes because it makes them recede. Then warmer shadows as you go down he nose and lips. The highlighted side of the face use warmer colors and the shadow side of the face in cooler colors.

When painting the eye, Taylor places a shadow across the top of the eye and puts more color in the top of the iris. The light on the eye creates a sun and moon effect as described by Taylor. She sometimes scratches the surface of the paper to create this light area. When painting the eyebrows, she puts a heavy color where it’s the darkest and then blends it out.

Taylor continued to amaze us with all her different techniques and information on painting a portrait. She put a lot of work into the demonstration with all the examples she painted of the different stages. It made it easy to understand her technique. I’m not sure how many of us will try this, but I’m sure we will use some of the information she gave us in other ways.

I wanted to thank Taylor for a wonderful program. Let’s face it, she does beautifulportraits.

But wait - - - there's more!

Following the program 11 of our members stayed to paint! We ordered in pizza, painted, talked, and generally had a great time.

11 of us hard at work!

This is a great way to get to know your fellow members better - and to learn something from each other, too!

Sally Wester with her portrait of Bill, her husband, painted utilizing some of the techniques Taylor just taught us.

Len Jacobs painting this landscape using techniques from the Christoper Leeper workshop he attended.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Deb started the meeting with a quote: “ When things go bad in art, other people are innocent.” It’s something to remember when we are painting and things aren’t going quite right.

Christopher Leeper Workshop:

Christopher Leeper gave a great workshop last weekend.He talked a lot about color, mixing colors and painting with a limited palette. The work shop was especially nice since it was in a familiar facility with people that we know.

Deb did a show and tell of Janet Vennemeyer paintings from the work shop. The reason she did this was to show how much Janet learned at the workshop.Her paintings from the workshop were totally different from the style she usually paints.

There will be pictures and information about the workshop on our blog and you can go to Deb’s blog to read about the workshop.

Future workshop:

At the February meeting you may put down a $50 deposit to add your name to the list for the next workshop in the spring.If the list fills up Rhonda will have a waiting list. A lot of the people on the waiting list were able to get in the last workshop. It will be a first come, first serve for the sign up for the spring workshop.

Rhonda went over the financial part of the workshop. It ended up that the club covered a small amount for the workshop and the extra things that went with it.

December Meeting:

December meeting is a members only meeting with a luncheon and art project.Everyone needs to bring some sort ofappetizer, salad or other dish for the luncheon. The craft project will be painting on glass.We will all need to bring an old painting brush and a container for water.All this information will be posted on the blog.

Treasurer Report:

Sally once again gave us a financial update. Since these minutes are posted on our blog I am not able to give you the dollar amount on our balance, income and expenses.

Guest:

Diane Duncan and Lydia Rittinger were both guests that have now become members. Sandy Eppert from Indiana is also a guest today.

Announcements:

There is a Paul Sawyier watercolor exhibit at the NKU Steely Library until Dec. 7. Paul Sawyier was a watercolorist in the late1800’s and early 1900‘s.

After the meeting today anyone who is staying for the paint along will get pizza for lunch.

Susan Grogan announced that she is having an Open House in her home on Saturday and Sunday this weekend from4 - 6:30 PM. If you come you can register to win an original watercolor by Susan . One of her original watercolors was picked by SpringfieldTownship for a banner that will hang over Winton Rd.

There will be a Showcase of the Arts at the Barn on Dec. 1, from 10 AM to 4 PM and Dec. 2 from 12 PM - 4 PM.

Diana Marra will have a Solo Exhibit at Evendale Cultural Arts Center, Opening Friday March 2 from 6-8. The Exhibit is called "A Taste of Asia" and will of course have Sake and Sushi in addition to the usual wine-and-cheese Opening fare. Exhibit is also open 12-4 on Sat. and Sunday March 3 & 4. Diana will offer a mini-workshop - "A Taste" - on Wed. March 14, 6:30-8, cost $20 / all materials provided in 3 versions of oriental-style painting. For more information contact Diana.